Key Ingredients

After being on the current training plan for 6 weeks, it was time to review and make a few minor adjustments.  I still have the same strategy of alternating hard days and easy days and running 80% of total miles easy (below lactate threshold), but I switched a few things around and changed my focus for certain workouts.  Now, with rare (and calculated) exception, every week includes the following key ingredients:

- Long run (13.1 minimum)
- Speed work
- Tempo work (which I'm considering basing on HR rather than pace)
- Trail run
- Easy runs
- Rest days

Some days, I combine these elements, such as a long run that includes tempo work or an easy run on the trails.  Every week is different...but every week is the same.

I'm still running 60 miles/week, but I now keep a running total of mileage for the past 7 days, as Monday-Sunday totals can be deceptive and will typically be closer to 50.

The other thing about this plan is that I'm not really increasing mileage from this point forward.  I plan to do three runs longer than 20 miles (22, 24, and a 4-hour run), but that's it.  Those runs are spaced out and add only 2 miles each time (so no more than 10% to the distance I've already completed).  No increase in weekly totals, just holding at the level I'm at, with a few taper/recovery weeks built in.  This is in sharp contrast to most people I know who just started their training plans and will be steadily adding mileage until they reach peak distances in early October.  Guess that's the advantage of training for 18 months instead of 18 weeks!  The conventional wisdom says you should work on increasing speed or mileage, but not both simultaneously.  Thankfully, I already have a nice base built, so now my goal is to run those miles faster each week...